For desktop use, I second the use of a start button program (such as Classic Shell, which I'm trying, or StartIsBack or Start8). I have to say, Windows 8 does boot very quickly, and might have some other advantages.

I think there's some potential there; the Metro mode really does work better for touch than classic, but the whole point of a Win8 hybrid is to also be able to run all the old stuff so I can get work done.

@betajet: My concerns precisely. If he has removed 15000+ employees and still wants to believe the company can get back up before the beginning of the new financial three-quarterly, then he?ll have to pull some serious cards. Moreover, Microsoft cannot rely on the popularity of Windows alone. I think Nadella should release some of the contingency funds and use at least as much employees as he can, to work on newer projects.

Nadella is approaching the business mechanisms in a confusing manner. First he lets off 15000+ employees in the Nokia merger because he has a vision for long term stability, but is steadily riding the flop wave with the newest series of tablets and other things not to mention, with the services offered while using Windows 8 as well. Good job confusing us Nadella, good job.

Unfortunately Bert (or fortunately, depending on ones point of view) this indicates that you are poor CEO material ;-)...I don't understand anything here either and suggest Google to introduce CEO to English translation in the next release of its OS so we can all learn how to use meaningless language!

Yeap, it is 3 or more but for marketing simplicity let's call it one! You got to admire CEO thinking...most of us would not be able to come up with this briliant strategy ;-)...perhaps that is why he is 100x highly paid than average engineer

When Nadella says Microsoft is making "one" Windows, he still means there will be different versions for different device types and different groups of users. If that sounds confusing, here's Nadella's more nuanced description of the transition...

So what when Nadella says there will be one Windows, by one he really means three? Is this like the scene in Nuns on the Run (1990) when Robbie Coltrane tries to explain the Trinity to a baffled Eric Idle?

I'll admit that these descriptions of strategic thinking, by corporate CEOs, almost always leave me puzzled. It's hard to make out what they are saying.

In this case, the initial rhetoric sounds like a replay of the Windows 8 introduction. Then we get a hint that Microsoft learned its lesson about the UI, acknowledging that the UI displayed ought to depend on the device in which the OS is installed (good thinking!), and/or the mode in which the device is being used (Surface with and without the keyboard). All good. Of course, Windows 8 can also be made to do that, but the user has to set the UI manually.

I'm not sure, but I believe the real difference here will be the apps, not so much the OS? The apps will be the same across platform types, and will adapt the way they interface with the user according to the platform type?

If this is the case, then I'm not sure why those same apps wouldn't be able to behave this way when running over Windows 8? Is this more of an apps news story?